The Light In The Darkness
by PuppiesAreAdorable
Summary: Him: cold, indifferent, demon. Her: friendly, mute, human. He saves her. End of story. ...Right? SessRin, later InuKag, MirSan
1. Freedom

_(A/N: Merf. Edited this chapter slightly.)_

**BLANKET DISCLAIMER: I don't own them, ya happy now?!**

**The Light In The Darkness**

Freedom

_Please, don't find me._

The little girl pressed herself against the wall, trying to make her already small body smaller. She looked only about eight years old, though her birthday had never acknowledged before. Hell, she didn't even know what a birthday _was_. All she knew was the Loneliness and the Pain, the Light and the Darkness. So much pain . . . More than any girl her age should have to deal with – than _anyone_ should have to deal with. She made herself painfully still in the Darkness, hardly daring to take a short breath whenever her lunges were about to burst. _They_ were home. She needed to be as good as possible; as _quiet_ as possible, because if _they_ heard even a squeak, the Pain would come again. The tears she tried to hold back fell, unstoppable as they rolled over her cheeks, swollen and bruised badly from previous nights' events. Her once baby-soft, pale skin was covered in black and blue, the ugly blemishes only able to fade slightly before more were inflicted on top.

If anyone were to ask what a dog was, or an apple, or practically anything, she would look at them strangely, for she did not know what these things were. She wouldn't talk, in fact, no one except the owners of this God forsaken house knew that she even existed. She only knew of the Loneliness and the Pain, the Light and the Darkness. She wasn't scared of the Darkness like the other three; actually she craved for her world to always stay dark. The Light came through the door when it was opened, only could mean one of two things; either _they_ had taken mercy and given her a morsel of a meal, or it could mean that the Pain was coming again. More often than not, it was the latter. The door to the outside was always locked, only not when one of _them _were paying her a visit.

She felt her heart stop when she suddenly heard a car pull into the driveway, along with some carefully chosen language. Her breathing was ragged, yet silent as she tried to compress herself further into the corner. _He_ was home. _He_ was the source of her hurt, and _she_ was the source of her loneliness. She was fooled, however, thinking that this was how every family worked. That every child was forced to stay in his or her room, barely getting anything to eat, while their parents fought just outside. Oh, how wrong she was.

She felt her heartbeat quicken as she heard heavy-set footsteps, ones that could only belong to _him_ came closer and closer to her door. She tried to swallow the large lump and quench her parched throat, but to no avail. There was no mistake now; the footsteps were coming for her.

_Please, Gods, please have mercy! Please let the Darkness remain!_ The girl silently pleaded. Unfortunately for her, the Gods did not head her plea. She heard the lock click; making her heart feel like it was going to pound right out of her chest. The door abruptly opened, and the girl was blinded, but she didn't need to see to know who stood like a shadow in the Light.

It was _him._

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

A boy of about eleven walked along the streets. Why _he_ of all people had to go and pick up his little half-brother from his stupid little friend's house was beyond him. Okay, so he didn't _have_ to, he just wanted to prove to his panicky step-mother that even though he was only eleven, he could take care of himself, even at almost nine o'clock at night. Just to spite her even more, he was taking the back streets of Tokyo. So what if he was only eleven? He was a full-fledged inu-yokai, unlike his stupid younger brother, who was only a hanyou. He could take care of himself.

He didn't know what exactly it was to make him turn down _that_ particular street; it was out of his way to Mushin's house where his half-brother InuYasha's friend, Miroku, lived. He didn't dwell on it long, pushing it aside as spiting her more and making his half-brother wait. Most didn't mess with him; they knew who he was and who his father was. Even if the mentioning his father's name didn't scare them off completely, he was becoming more fierce accompanying his usual cold demeanor. If anyone tried to make him prey, they'd had a run for their money. He mentally smirked at the memory of the _last_ pathetic excuse for a demon tried to kill him.

He stopped suddenly as the scent of salt hit his nose. Why did he care? It was probably just some girl crying over something stupid. Still, he couldn't make his feet move forward. They stayed rooted in place in front of a decrepit one-story house. It looked like it had gone through years and years of neglect; the tiles coming off the roof, the garden growing rampant and wild, the lawn riddled with miscellaneous objects, most he couldn't even name. He was about to just walk away with an oblivious eye when yelling came from inside . . . and what was this scent? It was amazingly sweet, though what it smelled like he could not put a name to. It was almost over-powered by the person's fear, anxiety, and . . . blood. He didn't know why, but that made his stomach churn and he suddenly felt the strong urge to go and rip the man who was causing the girl (. . . ? Yes, it was definitely a girl) harm. He did not know why he felt like that; no one had been able to make him feel that way since his real mother passed away. Against his better judgment, he kicked his heightened demon senses into gear and stalked up to the side of the house  if anyone could even call it that.) Seeing the old car in the driveway, he decided that his best approach was to wait until the man and the woman in there were gone.

His brother completely forgotten, he crouched down in the shadows, waiting silently for his chance. He didn't have to sit there long, for the man and the woman came out shortly after he had arrived, probably only ten minutes. He did not know why, but when the scent of this mystery girl's blood and tears became stronger and stronger with every passing moment, he felt as if he himself were the one taking the torture. The boy peered cautiously from behind a bush, waiting an agonizingly long time before he dared to go inside. Of course, none of this showed on his face, looking coldly indifferent the whole time.

Instead of taking the obvious way in and go through the front door, he opted for a small window on the side of the house. It was already partly opened, so all he had to do was push it up the rest of the way. Easily pulling himself inside, he slightly crinkled his nose and scowled in disgust. It smelled awful, like the people who lived here didn't know what an air freshener was. He landed in a bedroom – if one could even call it that. A stained mattress lay on the floor, and all sorts of beer cans and bottles littered the ground, along with other various items. He turned up it his nose and made his way out of the room.

_Filthy humans. Don't they know what the word "clean" means?_ The young demon thought. He decided not to put any more thoughts into their detesting habits. Instead, he followed his nose to the scent he had smelled earlier. It was even stronger now, and he was lead to the end of a long hallway to a room in the back of the house. He only slightly hesitated when he reached for the doorknob. He could smell an abundance of tears and blood. He tried to turn it, but found it locked. He didn't bother to unlock it, because with a quick twist of his wrist, it broke and the door swung open. He gave a small gasp and his eyes widened ever so slightly. The room, hell, it was could barely qualify for a closet. But it wasn't the size of the room that caught his eye, oh no, it was what was _in_ the room.

He was standing in front of a girl, younger than himself, slumped in a heap against the wall. She was positively _covered_ in blood and bruises, her small frame spoke of years of abuse. The room was covered in her blood, and the scent of it was almost overpowering his senses.

And he was in for an even bigger surprise when the girl opened her eyes. She squinted, obviously not used to the light. She had obsidian-colored haired under the blood that matted it, and her eyes were a lovely cinnamon. She gasped at the sight of him, and attempted to scoot away, but she was just too wounded. She trembled from either the pain or fear, he couldn't quite tell. It was all he could do from going to find those despicable humans and killing them right on the spot.

"Don't worry," he said softly, as not to frighten her even more – if that was even possible. "I won't hurt you. I'm going to get you out of this place."

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

The Pain, it had come again. _He_ had come again, and it was worse than usual, or maybe she was just extra sore. It didn't matter, it _hurt_. Her whole body was throbbing, and she just wanted to die. She has wanted to die for so long now; she doesn't think that she's _ever_ wanted to live. Her breath was taken in quick, short gasps, trying to desperately needed oxygen into her body. The Darkness was engulfing her, and she was glad. She loved the Darkness. It was when she could try to heal as much as she could before the Light came again. She didn't mind the Loneliness either; it meant that the Pain wouldn't come for a while. She reveled in the Darkness, and she loved how it wrapped it arms made out of nothingness around her, trying its best to comfort her. It hid her from _their_ eyes, so she was grateful as anyone could be. When she was absolutely positively sure that she was alone in the house, she talked softly to the Darkness. It understood her problems and desires, even if it could not help them. She didn't mind, it was the only thing she knew that did not bring her hurt, so she loved it.

She lay there panting in the Darkness she loved so much, a little while after the car had driven off. She was alone again, and she was truly grateful. She was becoming numb to the hurt, the throbbing calming down a little. She lay perfectly still, giving her body as much time as it could to heal. She had no idea when the Pain was going to come again. She relaxed herself, trying her best to speed up the healing process.

But then she tensed and all but stopped breathing. _Footsteps._ No, she was _sure_ that both the Pain and the Loneliness had left! She scrunched her eyebrows together when she heard the footsteps more clearly. They . . . were different than the ones that the Pain and the Loneliness make . . . was this some other being coming to give her more hurt? This confused her; no one else had ever come. Maybe . . . this being wasn't _supposed_ to come . . . ? That would mean that the Pain wasn't going to be happy! No! She mentally willed this new being away from here. Why had it come? If it wasn't supposed to come, it would mean more pain and hurt than usual. Her heart was beating three times more than normal when she heard the soft footsteps stop at her door. _No! Please! I don't want the Light to come again!_ She cried in her head. She just about died when she heard the outside knob try to turn. _That's right, the Pain locked it up! It can't come in now!_ She was happy for a split-second before she heard the lock snap and the door opened, letting the Light invade her beloved Darkness. She panicked and opened her eyes, squinting at first, only to gasp at what she saw.

The being that had come was . . . she just didn't know what word to describe him; with his long, silvery hair, bright amber eyes, the two dark-blue lines on his face, one on each cheek, the crescent moon on his forehead. The fabric on his upper body was red and white; on his legs were a faded blue. Realization dawned on her and she tried to scoot away, but her hurt body couldn't move. She trembled with fear, because she figured out what he was.

He was the Light itself.

He frowned slightly, and this scared her even more. Frowns were bad; they meant more hurt. Smiles weren't much better, but that meant that the Pain was going to let her off easy, or she was receiving some sort of food. She was crying again, but she didn't care. She just wanted the hurt to be over with. What had she done so that the Light itself would come to her?

"Don't worry," he spoke. She tried to swallow. "I won't hurt you. I'm going to get you out of this place."

He moved, crouching down so that he was almost eye level with her. She shook even more, horrified at what he was going to do to her. She didn't trust him; not in the slightest. The Pain and the Loneliness also told her things like that; and they meant nothing except more hurt. She jumped as he slid towards her. His movements were slow – almost as if his words were true and he was trying to gain her trust. She did not give in. She only trusted the Darkness. He was the Light, the reason the Pain and Loneliness came. He reached out a hand, making her try to press herself against the wall even more. She closed her eyes just as he was about to touch her head, preparing herself for more hurt.

It never came.

Instead, she felt the softest touch she had ever felt to her head. He gently stroked her hair, and she cautiously opened one eye, then another. He was not hurting her, though he had that same cold look of indifference on his face. She was confused. Was he not the Light? Why was he not bringing the hurt like the Pain did? Maybe . . . maybe he was just trying to get her to trust him so he could bring the hurt then . . . ? All she could manage was to staring at him as he moved closer. She tensed, not wanting to be anywhere near the Light.

"My name is Sesshomaru," he said softly. "What's yours?"

She simply shook her head. She had many names, but she knew that they were bad names. They weren't her real name. She couldn't even remember her real name. He frowned slightly once more, and she got scared again. She did not give what he wanted; now she was going to be punished. Who knew what kind of hurt the Light could bring?

"If you are not going to tell me, then I shall call you Rin."

She relaxed ever-so-slightly. So the Light was not angry? That was good, but she needed to make sure that she didn't even cause the tiniest bit of frustration for the Light. She nodded briefly, showing that she was happy with the new name. _Just keep the Light happy and maybe I won't get the hurt so bad._

She was taken aback when he leaned forward, he was so close that it terrified her and sent tremors up her spine when she suddenly felt his arms under her body, lifting her up. Even the slightest of movement sent the hurt and throb all over her. She scrunched her face up in pain, causing him to frown slightly again. Seeing this, she shook her head, desperately trying to tell him that it didn't hurt; that she was actually enjoying her hurt. When she did this, his frown only deepened a little. She was frightened more than ever now. _Oh no! The Light is not happy! What can I do to make him happy?!_ She thought.

"Rin."

She jumped in his arms when he said her new name. She looked up him, scared out of her wits. What was he going to do o her now that she had made him unhappy?!

"Are you in pain?"

She shook her head in a frenzied motion, terrified – absolutely _petrified_ of him. His amber eyes narrowed.

"Do not lie to me, Rin."

She started to tremble again, but managed to nod her head once. The Light was not happy with her – she could see that. She was sure that he could bring much more hurt than the Pain ever could. She was shaking uncontrollably, and in response she felt him tighten his grip on her.

"You will not be in pain much longer. Just hang on until then."

He then turned and walked out of her room. It was one thing that the Light to come to her, but she was never, _never_ supposed go into the Light. She gripped the fabric on his chest and shook her head frantically, trying to tell him that she was not supposed to come out here. He seemed to get what she was trying to tell him because he glanced downward at her, though did not turn around.

"You do not need to be afraid anymore, you are free now, Rin."


	2. Left

_(A/N: Merf. Edited this chapter slightly.)_

**The Light In The Darkness**

Left

They were moving towards a door, but Rin hardly acknowledged it. She was too busy staring at the Light – or, Sesshomaru. Was he . . . not the Light? He wasn't hurting her . . . he was . . . he was confusing her, that's what he was doing. Maybe . . . maybe she was wrong about the Light? Maybe the Light was trying to stop _them_ from entering and it was friends with the Darkness! Yes, that _must_ be it, or else the hurt would have come again.

She was pulled from her musings when Sesshomaru opened the door. She gasped, simply astonished at what she saw. There were these green, stringy–like objects on the ground; all over it! But not only that, there were rough, brown cylindrical walls shooting up from the ground and they had a different sort of green on top! And the ceiling; it was blue! And it seemed to reach up forever, and what were those up there? Did the ceiling capture bits of the Light? What _were _those little specks around the bigger ball of the Light? They seemed so close, yet so far away. She suddenly had a strange urge to go and jump around; she wanted to feel the green strings between her toes, to lean against the rough walls with the oddly shaped green on top. Even the air out here was different; it was cool and had a strange freshness to it. Then – the air moved! It blew at her and Sesshomaru, making her shiver in her small tunic, but she hardly noticed she was cold. She just couldn't stop staring in awe at all the new things around her.

As Sesshomaru kept walking, she noticed that her surroundings never stopped changing. The green string on the ground changed to a hard gray, and right next to them was a long, wide strip of a darker gray, with yet another strip of lighter gray on the other side. He seemed to stay on the lighter gray, so what was the darker gray for? She didn't have to wait long, because she saw this huge, monstrous metal thing coming down it, and _fast._ She gasped again, sure that the thing was going to hit them. She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped the fabric on her savior's upper body, waiting for the hurt. The _whoosh_ of air went by, and an angry roar filled her ears, but other than that, nothing happened. She opened an eye cautiously, but the metal monster was already gone. Curious, she surveyed the area more carefully. Apparently, the metal monsters stay on the darker gray, and everyone else stays on the lighter gray. With that figured out, instead of being scared, she was amused by them. What _were_ they? And how did they move so fast?

"They are called cars."

Sesshomaru – he spoke again! And he called those 'cars.' What an interesting name! She wondered if he would tell her what other things were. She nodded to him, showing that she understood. She was a fast learner, and she was determined to know everything about this world in the Light.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

Sesshomaru mentally sighed. What had he gotten himself into? Kidnapping a girl – well, maybe not quite kidnapping – from a decrepit old house and the humans who tortured her. What was he going to do now? Take her to the hospital for one thing, but after that? Where will she go? _The orphanage, of course. Why am I worrying about a human, anyway? She is beneath me._ Still, he just couldn't quite kill the feeling of needing to protect her. And what about the wind that blew and she shivered? He nearly sat her down, took off his own shirt and wrapped it around her. What was becoming of him?! It's his stupid step-mother, he reckoned. It's all _her_ fault he's gone soft! Stupid woman . . . if only his own mother had not died . . . but that's a different story. Rather not go into those unwelcome memories.

He had walked quite a ways; the hospital was almost in sight. He noticed that he had quite a few strange stares directed his way, but he didn't care. What, wasn't it normal to see an eleven-year-old dog-demon carrying a bloody, beat up eight year old human girl? Pft, what should he care? Then again, why should he care about this girl at all? Stupid instincts . . . it was _their_ fault he was in this mess. That, and his step-mother's. Stupid woman. Stupid humans for having these soft emotions.

And yet . . .

He couldn't help the swell of pride in his chest every time he took a downward glance at the girl. _He_ was the reason that she was alive. _He_ was the reason that she'd now be taken care of. _He_ was her hero. And that made him the most proud. He wasn't _supposed_ to feel like this, but he did anyway. Curious things these humans managed to do. They lived only for about a century if they were lucky, yet they do everything they could possibly do in that short of life. Why should this girl be any different? She'd eventually go to school, go to college, and get a job, only to die a short while later. He'd do everything the same until the last part; he'd die a _long_ while later. These pathetic mortals . . .

He looked up and they were finally at the hospital. With a look of indifference plastered firmly on his face, he made his way inside with Rin held tight, yet not tight enough to hurt, in his grasp. He went up to the main secretary, who took one look at the girl in his arms and called the emergency care doctors. She was carefully taken from his arms, or well, tried to, because she didn't want to leave him. Fortunately for them, she didn't have much strength length to put up much of a fight. She consequently fainted, though that just made it easier to move her. He was planning to leave right then, but thought better of it when he saw all the blood that had gotten on his clothes. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he made his way over to the secretary again to use the phone. Avoiding any questions she asked him with an "I don't need to explain anything to you," he called his parents.

This was not going to be fun . . .

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

It was so . . . so . . . wonderful!

Everything she and the Light passed . . . it was just fantastic! Who knew that there could be houses that could reach the sky? Or that there could be so many different people? Or those cars, who knew that they could move so fast? And even though the ceiling was now black, everywhere they went people had captured the Light so they could now have it in the Darkness. She knew now that even though they were complete opposites, the Darkness and the Light were actually quite happy with each other. They passed more and more of these sky-bound houses, each one a lot different than the last. She also discovered that what she was wearing was a lot different than those worn around her. That was probably the reason why they gave her such strange looks . . . but she didn't care. If the Light didn't care, then why should she?

Time seemed to fly by and it felt like it took nothing at all before they were standing in front of a large, white building. It wasn't as tall as some of the others she had seen, but it was by far the widest. There were many, many cars in a huge area of the same dark gray, and the windows were by the hundreds, stretching the whole height and length of the building. Through some of them, the Light shined through, although in most, there was Darkness. Sesshomaru led her through one of the doors, where the room was brightly lit. There were many chairs on top of tile flooring, some of which were occupied. Over on the far wall, there was a circular desk with which what seemed like hundreds of papers sorted neatly behind it. The woman behind the desk was filing through some of those said papers when Sesshomaru walked up to her.

She did a double take when she saw Rin, and gave a gasp. She quickly picked up a black piece of plastic and said some things into it. It seems that only a moment before Rin was swarmed with more people, dressed in different colored baggy clothes. Each had a mask, gloves, and another piece of cloth covering their head. With them, they carried a sort of bed on wheels. Two of the people tried to take Rin from her beloved Sesshomaru. She clung to his shirt, not wanting to leave, but her strength was leaving her, and fast. She realized that he was not resisting them taking her, so that must mean that he trusted them. Satisfied that wherever they were going to take her was relatively safe, she let her body go limp and let them put her on the wheeling bed.

They worked quickly, talking to each other in short sentences, ripping her tunic open and caring to her wounds, all the while walking quickly through the hallways. One of the women lifted a clear mask and held it over her mouth and nose. It tasted cold, and weirdly wet, and she began to feel a tingly sensation in her fingers and toes. The feeling quickly traveled up her arms and legs until her whole body was engulfed in it, and it quickly turned into numbness. Blackness crept from the outside in of her vision, and soon her brain shut down with the rest of her body.

_Thank-you . . . Sesshomaru . . . _

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

"Look at my boy, he's a hero!"

"Yes, yes he is! But do you _know_ how much danger you were in?! You could've been killed!"

"Nah, he's a Takahashi! Those foolish humans wouldn't have stood a chance!"

"Don't you _dare_ promote such violence into your son!"

"Calm down, he wasn't injured, and he saved someone's life today!"

The afore mentioned boy was sitting in one of the waiting room chairs while listening to his parents, InuTaisho and Izayoi, praising him and scolding him. He had already changed his clothes, and he sat quite bored with his head on his chin, only half listening to his parents. They had called his half-brother's friend's parents, and asked if he could stay there an extra night. He was dreading the torture he would have to go through when InuYasha found out that he had saved a _human_ life today. He was _never_ going to live this one down.

". . . maru?"

". . . shomaru?"

"Sesshomaru!"

He finally figured out that someone was calling his name, and was snapped out of his daydreaming. "Yes?"

His father sighed. "There's a detective here to talk to you."

Sesshomaru was prepared for this. He knew that he was going to have to explain exactly what happened when he found Rin. His parents made way for a woman, appearing to be in her late twenties, dressed in a brown tweed business suit. Her bright blue-green hair was pulled back in a bun and her pale blue complexion told him even without his nose that she was a demon. She stopped in front of him and kneeled.

"Hey, Sesshomaru, I'm Sudahara Rokazi. Now, I want you to tell me exactly what you told your mother and father, okay?" she said as she smiled, showing off her gleaming fangs.

Ignoring the fact that she was treating him like a little kid, – not that he is one, or anything – Sesshomaru answered as politely as he could. "As expected, Sudahara-san."

"Great. Now, how about you begin with what you doing before you rescued Rin?"

As Sesshomaru proceeded to tell her the whole story, Rokazi nodded and asked a question every once in a while, and took notes in a little pocket-sized notebook. Once he was done, the detective nodded once more and flipped her notebook closed. Then she looked him straight in the eye.

"Sesshomaru, I want you to understand something," she started, her voice calm and direct. "Those people who hurt Rin, I know that you know that they are bad, bad, people. They will also, because they will get caught and convicted, especially if Rin is there, are going to try to kill her. I want you to understand that just because she is out of that house that does not mean that she is completely safe. They are still out there, although we will do our best to track them down."

With that said, she nodded one last time to confirm her words, then got up and walked away, leaving his parents to question him even more. He wasn't really listening, the Ms. Sudahara's words replaying themselves again and again in his mind.

_Is Rin in more danger than Sudahara-san is letting on?_

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

Sounds slowly filled in her mind, leaving Rin very confused. Why was there noise? There was only supposed to be silence in her home. Something was wrong . . . very, _very _wrong. She forced her eyelids open, and saw a white tiled ceiling. She grew frantic, where _was _she?! _Did the Pain move me?! Why didn't I wake up?! Oh no, this is __**not**__ good!_ She tried to move, and get a better look around, but her whole body was strangely numb, and she found that she was wrapped from head to toe in white cloth. She started to shake, absolutely terrified. She couldn't even think, and now she couldn't tell whether it was something they gave her or her fear that made her numb. Only now did she realize that there was a strange beeping to the left of her, which seemed to be speeding up with her own heart beat. She looked down at her hands, finding that strange tubes connected to them. She looked around frantically, finding all sorts of weird machines and instruments of who-si-me-what-sies and thing-a-ma-jigs of what she couldn't even _imagine_ what they were for.

Torture, maybe.

It didn't take long before people came in. She nearly jumped out of her skin, and despite her numbness, she was able to move back away a little from them. She discovered that not only was she numb, she couldn't move her limbs very much, if at all. Only noticing now that she was practically covered in . . . Well, really thick and rock-hard cloths, hot tears flowed down her cheeks as she scrunched herself as small as the hardened white cloth would allow her against the wall. Wait, she realized something. Was it just her, or did these weird–clothed people seem . . . oddly familiar? Then – it hit her.

_Sesshomaru!_

She stopped instantly, leaving her mouth open slightly in gape. She blinked a couple of times, letting all of this fully slink in. So – everything that happened – that wasn't a dream! She – she was really out of there! She was finally, after all that time, away from the Pain! She didn't have to through that again . . . She didn't have to get hurt anymore . . . She didn't have to do anything . . .

She looked down at the tears that had fallen onto her hand. They were no longer for fear . . . No, they were for something completely different . . . A bubbly, just plain . . . oh, she didn't know how to describe it! She realized now that it was the same feeling she had when she learned that Sesshomaru had helped her. At first it was just a small, tiny curve of her lips as she gazed over her bruised body. _I wonder what it's like to not have a single hurt?_ Her smile suddenly grew wide as she looked back up at her confused Helpers. She fully relaxed her body, but when she did that, the control she had over her body disappeared and she fell to the side. Her Helpers swarmed her again, and she realized that the white clothe on her body was stopping the blood and helping it heal. They re-clothed her wounds, – some of them were bleeding again – and set her back up so that she was lying on her back. She was panting heavily, but was smiling nonetheless, barely noticing the hurt she was experiencing. She knew now, that even though she was still connected to the Pain, there was now hope, and all because of Sesshomaru.

"Hey, Rin-chan? Honey?"

She realized that one of her Helpers was talking to her. She looked at the woman, showing that she was listening.

"You have some visitors, dear," she said as she smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. Rin could hear her mumbled under her breath, "Although, while they're letting visitors see her like this is beyond me . . ."

Rin, not clearly understanding her, just took a better look at herself. On a lot of her body, the bandages were harder, and she couldn't move whatever part of her that was in there. _I wonder why they did that?_

She looked up again when she heard new footsteps stopping at her door. There were three people that weren't Helpers, one of which she already knew. There was a man and a woman, the man having long, silver hair that was tied up in a high pony-tail. He had two, midnight-blue lines on both his cheeks, and a half moon on his forehead. His eyes were sunny amber, old and wise. He had an arm around the woman next to him, a real beauty indeed. She had a simple burgundy; short-sleeved dress that flowed down a little passed her knees. Rin could see that her inky black hair went down to her ankles. Her hands were gripping the handle of her black purse that was held out in front of her. Her eyes were kind, a beautiful violet color. But what most caught Rin's eye, was the child standing in front of them. The Light – better known as Sesshomaru.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

Ugh. Could this hospital be _any_ more _boring_?! All he, the great Sesshomaru, wanted to do was to put this whole thing behind him. But _no_! His parents **insisted**– more like threatened – that he come to the depressing hospital again. Apparently the girl that he saved – who he had named Rin – had woken up. Perfect. Well . . . then again, he couldn't say that he was _completely_ against the idea . . .

It seemed that he had been waiting for a couple of hours – though had probably only been about ten minutes – before a doctor came in and talked to his parents. Because of his acute hearing, he was able to pick up that Rin had indeed woken up. Getting up sort of awkwardly because his butt was half asleep, he followed the doctor a step behind his parents. They were lead through many corridors with innumerous doors until they finally stopped in front of one no different than the rest. The doctor opened it and stepped aside, sweeping his arm signaling that they could go in. Somehow Sesshomaru ended up in front of his parents as they looked into the room. He felt himself pale when he looked at her.

Funny how that seeing Rin in all that blood didn't affect him nearly as much as it did now. Maybe it was because he didn't consider how badly hurt she was, or that he was too busy focusing on getting her to the hospital that he didn't really think about it. Either way, he was taking it in now. The bandages on her head were wrapped around her skull and down across her left eye. Her other eye was black, blue, and puffy. She had bandages on the rest of her face as well, and she had a badly swollen lip. He could see the stitches the doctors had placed under her eye were it was wounded badly. There were dark bruises in lines on her neck, and Sesshomaru couldn't keep out the spine-chilling image of a hand, strangling the life out of her. Her left arm was in a sling, and each finger was in its own cast. Her right arm was in another cast that went all the way up to her shoulder, and he could see the outline of a chest splint underneath her thin hospital gown. Her left leg, from what he could clearly see even though it was under a blanket, had yet another cast that went up to her mid-thigh. Her right leg had a cast that only went up just below her knee. He could only imagine what other bruises and gashes she had where he couldn't see.

Sesshomaru was shaken from his thoughts when he suddenly felt a strong hand push him forward into the room. Surprised by this, he stumbled a little, but quickly regained his composure. He turned around to glare at his parents, only to be met with the oddly sad gaze of his father. He could see that his step-mother was desperately trying not to cry.

"We'll leave you two a moment alone." That was all the father said as he nodded once and left with his step-mother.

The young dog-demon stood there awkwardly for a moment as Rin just stared at him with those huge dark-chocolate eyes – er, eye of hers. She was bug-eyed because she wasn't used to the light, he presumed, as he remembered that closet she was in when he found her. All of a sudden, she broke into the biggest smile he didn't believe that is was possible for her to make. Taken a little aback, he widened his eyes as he noticed that she missing some of her teeth. His feet seemed to be on their own accord as he walked around to her right side. Up close, he was able to examine the wounds on her face more clearly. They were even worse than he imagined. Apart from the bandages around the top of her head, the stitches under her right eye and her swollen lip, there were innumerable cuts and bruises on top cuts and bruises. He could also see just how frail the poor girl actually was. He remembered how easy it had been to carry her, even with his strength. Her bones jutted out of her skin a lot farther than he knew they should've been.

Yet, even with all over this, she still managed to smile at him.

This confused him, all she should be doing is crying; that's what all the other girls his age seemed to do. This girl was different, that's for sure. She stopped smiling at him for a moment and held up her right arm a few inches off her stomach and looked quizzically between it and Sesshomaru.

"It's called a cast. It helps a broken bone heal."

She looked even more confused than ever. Sesshomaru decided to elaborate.

"A bone is what allows you to move. You have two-hundred and six bones inside your body, each a different size and shape. When one breaks or cracks, one needs to get a cast on it so it can heal properly and that bone will be able to move again."

Rin nodded and smiled again, examining her cast more. The young dog-demon was more surprised that she was able to understand all that. How was he to know how much knowledge she had?

After about a moment they heard a knock and his father reentered. His solemn looked, if anything, only worsened when he laid his eyes on the poor girl again. Then she did the same thing she did to Sesshomaru – she smiled. The young dog demon couldn't help but feel, what was that, _jealously_ towards his father because her smile was a big as the one she gave him?! No, that can't be right! He decided to put that away. What he doesn't figure out won't come back and haunt him, right?

Right?

"Come on Sesshomaru, it's time to go."

It was his father speaking to him. That's right, no need to stay in this dreary place longer than necessary, right?

Right?

What was with this girl?! All of a sudden, he's second-guessing himself, and it's all because of her! Stupid humans. They always seem to screw around with what he knows, making him second-guess himself and all.

He realized that after his inner-rant was done that his father had already left the room. Deciding that it was best that he follow, Sesshomaru turned towards the door. Just before he was able to take his first step, he felt someone pull at his sleeve. He looked backwards to see that Rin had managed to grab him, even with the cast making her arm go at an awkward angle. He could tell that she knew that he was leaving, and that it was going to be forever. The look in her eyes was pleading him to stay, but he couldn't.

"Goodbye, Rin," he stated firmly. She hesitated, but let go of his sleeve. He turned away and started to walk towards the door, not once looked back to the girl he saved.

That was the hardest thing he had ever done, just walking away from those pleading eyes.


	3. Contentment

_(A/N: So….uh…..Hi?? Um, yeah. Getting this chapter out was seriously a pain in the ass. Sorry 'bout that. At first progress was at a crawl thanks to stupid writer's block, and then inspiration finally struck me in the middle of the night. And about the chapter title . . . I couldn't think of anything else _-_-'_ Remember to thank my subconscious y'all! Anyways, go ahead and read now!)_

**The Light In The Darkness**

Contentment

Rin just stared.

Her mouth was open partially in gape, her small arm still extended, reaching out to someone who was long gone. She couldn't believe it. Sesshomaru was _gone_ . . . and she had this horrible sinking feeling that he wasn't going to ever come back. Something inside her seemed to crack, but it wasn't what most would think. This shell she had constructed for herself, it was cracking, but that was a good thing. Her mental shield was put up against the Pain . . . so that she wouldn't break and loose all her will to live. She realized now that she had been going on a little speck of hope of being saved, and now . . . and now, Sesshomaru only helped fuel that tiny spark. She closed her mouth and set her arm back down on her stomach. She stared at the ceiling, truly realizing what Sesshomaru had done for her.

It wasn't that she wanted him to leave, that she was glad; she was happy because he had done more for her than anyone else ever could. She knew that he had more than she could ever hope to repay. She had always felt strangely empty inside, like she had a gaping hole in her chest, one that had been there her whole life and was filled with pain and loneliness, but this right now was a different kind than what she was used to feeling. It wasn't physical hurt, more like the sensation that she was falling into an abyss. She had felt loneliness before, back at the house, but now it was much worse now that she had something to compare it to. But now that she was out of there – it felt like that hole had been hollowed out once more. No more did she have that horrible, crushing feeling that threatened to implode; now it was filled with even more anguish. She wasn't complete – and she knew that she never would be, not without Sesshomaru.

She supposed that she was happy, though, happy that she was alive. And that was what he wanted, right? For her to live? If it wasn't, then why would he have gone through so much trouble in getting her here? No, she wouldn't – couldn't – let him down. Rin was determined to live her new life to the fullest, to never let anything get her down, nor would she dwell on the bad things. She would be happy.

Just like Sesshomaru wanted.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

She did not know just how long exactly she had been at what she now knew as the hospital, but it had certainly been a while. Many things changed; like how she was getting used to her surroundings. She was able to recognize each one of the nurses or doctors footsteps, and she learned all their faces. Rin also was taught what a television was, and was almost used to having two small meals a day.

Some things hadn't changed, however. Rin still didn't talk, and she was still an incredibly light sleeper, who could not get herself to sleep for more than a couple hours at a time. Also, she couldn't help but get extremely frightened when one of the doctors or nurses frowned at her, or told her that she had done something bad. That didn't happen often, however, most of the doctors knew of what occurred, so her panic attacks were easily dealt with.

She was now sitting on the ground in some room, what the nurses called it the 'play room'. Its walls were a bright turquoise, with beige carpeting. Rin was currently sitting awkwardly on the floor, her leg casts making it hard to get comfortable, but that didn't matter now. The small girl was being entranced, images forming in her mind, filling it with wonderment. It was story time in this room, the other children, like Rin, were sitting quietly and listening intently to the speaker.

The speaker was a middle-aged woman, with dark brown hair that was pulled back into a pony-tail. She had small, rectangular glasses that looked good on her long, oval shaped face. She had small, squinty chocolate eyes that wrinkled up whenever she smiled. Rin, despite her young age, could quite accurately judge one's character. She liked this woman, could tell that her grins' warmth was real, and noticed that when she smiled, so did her eyes. She couldn't tell that there was any bad inside this woman's heart, only good intentions and good ambitions. What she loved most of all, however, was her voice. She spoke with great clarity, and let the whole group that she was entertaining become under her trance when she read. Her voice was smooth and melodious, not nasally or raged like others' voices she had come to know.

She ended the story, and it took a moment before the daze lifted off of the children. Rin was beside herself. She had never before believed that something so _wonderful _could have existed. It was magical, this story of the princess that came from the moon and was born from a stick of bamboo. Even though Rin did not know what most of these things were, she still imagined them in her mind in what she believed to be like.

"Read us another one, Kaito-san!"

One of the children had come back to their senses and asked their speaker – now known as Kaito-san – and a chorus of voices erupted afterward, further encouraging their beloved reader. She gave a small chuckle, a very pleasant sound to Rin's ears, and picked up another book. The small girl, still not completely out of the first spell, instantly perked up and was determined to pay the fullest attention, trying to commit every word to memory.

After the story was done, the little girl tried to desperately keep hold of the wonderful feeling of bliss Kaito-san's voice left her in. It did not last, to Rin's disappointment. The speaker did not read another story to the children, and promised that she would continue on a new book that she would bring the next time she visited. She was met by another chorus of disappointed whines, but she politely dismissed them all.

With a small exile of her breath, Rin started the difficult task of moving to another spot. Those . . . _books _she read, she found that there were many more than she could possibly count on shelves to her right. The other children dispersed throughout the room, doing various things that Rin could not name, and left the books untouched. She thought what a waste, these magical things, books, just left there on the shelves. Then she mused that maybe it was because that Kaito-san was not reading that they did not want to ruin the beautiful magic that the speaker wove with her voice. That must be it.

Knowing that she wouldn't forget the sound of the woman's voice even if she tried, Rin decided that she would bravely go over there and get another one of those books. Then another thought came to mind. How would she understand anything? She was definitely not as well in tuned with this world in the Light as the others, but she just decided that she would study, to find what told the speaker where the story came from. She braced herself with her right arm, the one with the cast all the way up to her shoulder, and tried to curl her right knee under her so she could get into a position to stand. Before she could get into a good enough position, however, Kaito-san came over to her.

"Oh, you poor dear! Whatever happened to you?" she spoke in a soft voice. Rin, not knowing how to respond, and not really sure if she could make a sound if she tried, just looked up at the woman with her big, coffee-brown eyes. Since it had been a little while since she came here, her bruises were already starting to heal. She glanced around the other children, not understanding why the reader was giving her attention. When she looked back up at the woman, however, she found that her lips had twisted down into a frown. Instantly, an image of the Pain's face flashed into her eyes and she jumped, her muscles' spasm so big that she managed to flip over that she facing the woman on her backside. She started to cry, an uncontrollable action that always seemed to happen whenever that curving of the lips was aimed at her.

"Oh! Honey! What's wrong? Did I scare you?" Kaito-san tried again.

Rin cringed away at the sound of her voice, and was too hysterical at the moment to tell that the woman's voice was concerned for her, not angry. Not knowing what to do, mind going blank from anxiety, she simply sat there and shook.

"Kaito-san!"—Rin looked up at this new voice—"Don't worry about _her_, she always does that."

The reader turned to look at the child that addressed her. The girl was older that Rin, about Sesshomaru's age, she thought. She did not know this girl personally, not even her name, but she knew her character. One glance into her eyes and she could tell. She was vain and selfish, but in reality, she was afraid of adults, yet always wanted to be the center of attention. Rin did not hold her personality against her; it was not something she could help. The girl then glared at her, causing her panic to arise anew, sending her into further hysterics. Kaito-san gave the other girl a hard look, and Rin freaked.

"Now, now, Arisa-chan, that is no way to treat others," she said firmly, her voice lightly scolding. "Say you're sor—"

The woman was cut off by Rin as the young girl grabbed a hold of her sleeve. The reader looked down at her in surprise, which only grew as Rin frantically shook her head. She did not want punishment to go to the other girl, it was all Rin's fault, whatever it was that she did wrong. Maybe the woman was angry at her because she did not answer? It did not matter, because all thoughts had all but vanished, for she was blinded by the sheer panic gripping its way through her chest and constricting her lungs, making it hard to breathe. She barely heard the other girl, Arisa, scoff over her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.

"Look at Rin, being the little drama queen. All she wants is the attention of everyone," she said angrily as she crossed her arms, continuing her glare at her 'competition'.

Rin blinked. _What's a . . . 'Drama Queen'? _She asked herself, though the thought did not stay in her mind long enough for much consideration. She sort of understood what 'attention' meant, but she did not want what she was suggesting.

"Arisa-chan," Kaito-san said again, looking at her, and both girls knew what her unspoken demand was.

Rin jumped, and hurriedly tugged on the reader's sleeve, not wanting _any _hurt that was meant for Rin to go to this new girl, Arisa. She somehow knew that she had never experienced any pain like she had – and she wanted to keep it that way. She took fleeting glances between Kaito-san and Arisa, and barely registered through her panic that the woman's face turned thoughtful.

"Little girl, or should I say Rin?" she said, making Rin looked over at her, only to find that she was smiling. What was she doing? _Wasn't she mad at Rin because Rin did something wrong?_ She tried to figure out what made Kaito-san's mood switch so suddenly. The woman turned to Arisa.

"Arisa-chan, I heard that the new doll that you wanted to play with came,"—the girl's head abruptly turned to her—"why don't you go and see if you can have a turn?"

The girl's eyes turned to Rin for a moment and gave one last considerably weaker glare, then nodded and turned to walk over to some other girls. The reader turned to Rin again.

"There," she said, her smile growing warmer. "Now, could you tell me why you're crying so?"

The little girl just stared at her with her dark, coffee-brown eyes, her panic starting to evaporate because of the woman's gentleness. She – with some concentration – unclenched her hands from her elder's shirt, the strain on her broken fingers causing them to throb, and the casts on them bite painfully into her skin, but she ignored it. She'd been through worse.

"You poor child, are you mute?" Kaito-san asked another question. Rin tentatively nodded her head, only knowing what that meant because she had heard some of the nurses call her that. The reader then outreached one of her hands, making Rin's inevitable red flags go up and she started to panic again. She tried to make her body calm down, tried to tell herself that Kaito-san wasn't going to hurt her, but she could not help herself. When the woman's fingers gently brushed against her swollen cheek to wipe her tears away, she jumped then shuddered away from the contact. When she unclosed her eyes to look at the woman's, she could see the subtle hurt and sadness in their gaze. She desperately wanted for her to understand that she was not scared of her, that it was an uncontrollable reaction, but she could not speak, not even when she wanted to.

She could tell that the woman was forcing to keep her smile, her eyebrows furrowing and her eyes growing moist. Rin did not know what to do, her mind growing blank, and she searched in vain for something to ease this woman's pain. Kaito-san then closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. She unclosed her eyes, and her smile became less forced.

"Listen, Rin-chan. I have to leave now, but I will come again, and the next time I do, I promise that I'll . . . _help _you. In any way possible."

Kaito-san the reached out again, ever so cautiously, to pat the little girl's still bandaged head. Rin tried her best to keep her face clean, but could not help a small wince. The reader then nodded once, then stood, and turned and headed for the door, taking one last look at the girl. She then promptly left. Rin sat there, now more confused than ever.

_Why would she want to help Rin?_

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

More time had passed, and Rin spent all the time that she could at the play room. Most of the time, to her disappointment, Kaito-san was not there, but the times she was, that was Rin's greatest treat. She discovered that even after many visits, her voice did not lose that ability to cast all around her under her enchantment. Kaito-san stayed true to her promise, that she would help Rin. Since the woman decided to start out small, she simply did what Rin wanted to do, which was to learn how to read. Now, starting from scratch with absolutely no knowledge of what most things were, this was a big bite to chew, but Rin was determined. It helped both of them that she was ready and willing, and that she was a fast learner. She soaked up every word that came out of Kaito-sensei's (now sensei because she knew what honorifics were) mouth like a sponge.

Days came and went, and Rin was currently being wheeled in her chair, coming back from her time in the play area. The nurse that was currently in charge of her, had to stop at the reference desk to fill out some forms, leaving the girl to study her surroundings more carefully. All was calm, really, and besides the usual hustle of the hospital employees, nothing else was out of the ordinary.

Rin, however, was not disappointed. Still she observed, taking in the slightest bit of detail. Kaito-sensei had taught her that one never stops learning, no matter where, who, or how old one is. She was not stupid, just uneducated. Being dumb means that one does not have the capacity to learn something to new, to be ignorant of things. Rin was not dumb, she _can _and _will _learn . . . she just needed a teacher. She was by no means unintelligent, and she knew that. She was often on the receiving end of many cruel jokes. She didn't even blink; she knew that most of the ferocity behind their words was mere jealousy because Kaito-sensei was spending more time with her than any of the other children. The reader wasn't that mean that she'd deny the children her stories, but with little kids, everything had to be fair. Kaito-sensei stopped them when she was there, but that didn't stop them when Rin was alone.

The normalcy was then disrupted. The emergency doors then flew open, and a horde of doctors rushed in, with them another one of those beds on wheels. People made way for the medical professionals, as they hurriedly tried to save the person on the bed.

Rin felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She did not know why this horrible feeling of dread suddenly washed over her, but her palms began to sweat and she just _knew _that something bad was about to happen, and it would be because of whoever was just brought inside. The doctors were blocking Rin's view of the person, but she heard her quite well.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'?!" she cried out as she thrashed around. "Don't touch me!"

Wind gusted through the room, sending tornadoes made of paper and anything light enough that wasn't tied down. People yelled and ducked as the wind gusts blew harsher. Some of the human doctors who weren't as strong as the youkai fell to the ground, and gave Rin a clear view of the struggling woman. A shot of pure terror went through her body and froze all actions around her. She knew that face.

_I-it's the . . . the Loneliness!_

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

_(A/N: Welp, this chapter was very boring, don't you say? *Sigh* Sorry 'bout that, being gone so long then coming back with this crummy update. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers, no? Oh, btw, Rin's fear of people frowning at her would actually happen. For her, frowns meant that she was going to get hurt. She obviously knows that that isn't true now, but irrational fears are the worst one could deal with. Even with Kaito (that's her sir-name, I still to get her a first name), she knows that she is a wonderful woman, but her fears get in the way. Oh, another btw, if you would like to know about Japanese honorifics, I have a thing about them in my profile that tells you what they mean. Leave a review or not, I don't think I really deserve one, but if you do I promise to answer/thank you in the next chapter, AND I won't take so long to update! Two for the price of ONE measly two-word review. You can't find these deals anywhere else, folks. XD)_


	4. Reunion

_(A/N: GGAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!! I know that I promised to have this chapter out a lot sooner than this, but AARRRGGHH!! I FORGOT ABOUT THE HOLDAYS!! I was soo super busy with all of that, and not only that but I was having writer's block with this chapter!!! Well, not so much the beginning, but the end. Sorry that the ending sucks. And it didn't help that my brain was waaaayyyy ahead of where the actual story is. I realize that I said five to ten chapters . . . nuh-uh. NOT gonna happen!! Seriously, my brain ran away with this story with a camper full of supplies for the trip, and I don't think it's coming back anytime soon._

_**IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!! **__I have changed the woman running the playroom. She is now _Kaito _and not _Tsuiyomii. _I did this because _Tsuiyomii _is too close to _Tsukiyomi, _a woman from the actual series, you know, with _Hoshiyomi _and the _Naginata of Kenkon_? I'm not sure if it's a filler or not, though it did have another appearance of _Akitoki Houjou _in it._

_**DEDICATION!!!! **__This goes to _**Locainlove **_for giving me the idea to use _Tsukiyomi_!!! It totally flipped this story . . . but don't worry, in a good way _:]

_REVIEW REPLIES AT THE BOTTOM!! I SWEAR I DIDN'T FORGET THAT PART OF THE DEAL!! And we can only hope that the next chapter will be easier . . . _6_6;

**The Light in the Darkness**

Reunion

Rin's mind was blank.

The Loneliness was here, why?! Why was she in the hospital?! Her hair whipped around her, but she didn't even notice. She stared with her jaw slacked at the woman whose face she knew better than even her own. She was thrashing around, flinging her arms and legs so that the doctors couldn't treat her. Rin's eyes finally moved from the woman's face down her body, and she saw that her whole torso was covered in her blood, and the sight of the thick, dark-red liquid turned the child's brain back on and sent it into overdrive. _Why is she bleeding?! What happened to her?! Why won't she let the doctors treat her?! What's going on?!_

She pulled her eyes up to her face again. The woman never once looked over her way, but Rin could still see what was underneath those eyelids. The reason the Loneliness was always so cold, so uncaring, was because she was lonely herself. Rin realized that that was why she didn't want the doctors near her, because she wanted to be free of this torture the she went through every day of her life. She was a demon; her power was to control the wind. The girl knew that her sadness wasn't because she was locked away from the world; more as she was like a wild horse just captured. She was well fed and had everything that she needed, and she could buck and run as much as she wanted, but couldn't go past the stall walls. No longer could she gallop through the wide open feels, she was stuck in an enclosed space with no hope of ever returning to the wild.

The Loneliness, Rin decided, would be called that not because she was cold to Rin, but because she herself was in pain. She could feel her sorrow through every gust of air that hit her, the wind howling at someone to save her. Through her peripheral vision, Rin could see that everyone around was either cowering in fear or trying to stop her. The girl knew that this would not cease until someone reached out and gave her hope, just like what Sesshomaru-sama did for her. Knowing that no one else would do that besides her, the girl shakily stood up, almost being blown away from the first gust that was sent her way. Slowly but steadily she made her way across the tile floor, each new burst of air nearly sending her off her feet. Eventually, nearly half-way there, she noticed that the tornadoes were getting weaker.

_Does that mean that she is becoming closer to Death?! _Rin went faster. She was going to save this woman; she did not want her soul to be tortured, even in the Afterlife. She was nearly five feet away from her now, and the wind was slowly starting to die. She moved even faster, and almost got whacked in the head by a man's elbow, but thankfully it narrowly missed. Rin was finally at the bed; the hand that was closest to her was fisted in one the sheet, the veins popping out from the tension. With her right hand, – her other had too many splints on it – she gently laid it atop of hers.

The woman instantly looked up at the one holding her hand and gasped. Her expression was one of horror and utter confusion. The air then stopped moving; the hair on Rin's head finally calming to settle down on her head. The Loneliness sputtered, trying to believe that the face that she saw in front of her was real.

"I-it's . . . _you_?!" she finally choked out. Rin merely gave a small nod. "B-but . . . _how_?! You . . . you're supposed to be . . ."

Rin squeezed her hand slightly. The Loneliness finally seemed to get over her initial shock and calmed down. She relaxed her body and laid her head back down on the pillow. She looked away, and closed her eyes gently.

". . . Your eyes," she spoke again, her voice almost too soft for the child to hear. She turned her head slightly to the side, trying to figure out what the woman meant. The Loneliness looked at Rin once again.

"Why do you have such hope? You are never to be free of him . . . so why do you still insist on hoping?"

The girl knew exactly who she was talking about. Rin had Sesshomaru-sama. _That _is why she hoped; though she would never see him again. _It makes Rin sad, but Rin is not going to dwell on the sad things in life. Otherwise Sesshomaru-sama would not be proud of Rin. _Since the woman before her was still waiting for an answer that the girl could not give, she did the only thing that she _could _do: smile. The Loneliness' eyes widened, and then relaxed once more.

"I see. You were saved . . . and that hope is the one thing that keeps you going. Tell me this, do you have a name?"

Rin nodded, and the Loneliness looked around at the doctors just standing there, watching in bewilderment at the scene going on in front of them. She gestured at one of them.

"You! Tell me this child's name!"

The forcefulness in her voice and the heat of her red-eyed gaze had the poor man stuttering. He nervously pushed the glasses farther up on the bridge of his nose. "I-I believe her name is, uh, Rin, miss."

She turned her attention back to the girl. Her stare was just as forceful; even though she was coming closer to her death. "Rin, you have to promise me something."

The girl nodded eagerly, desperately wanting to do something for the woman.

"Do not, whatever you do, loose that hope that keeps your eyes alive. Promise me this, Rin!"

Rin gripped the Loneliness' hand with all her might, and nodded again. The woman blew a sigh of relief. She closed her eyes again, and gave a sad smile.

"I . . . guess I should be apologizing to you, Rin, for you see, I . . . well, it seems silly now, but know that I . . . I've always wanted to save you," she said quietly. Her smile fell and she looked back at Rin. "But then again, it was impossible. How could I have saved someone, when I couldn't even save myself?"

It sounded like she was talking to herself more than she was to the child beside her. Her eyes were now ahead of her body; the fiery red of them turned dull. _She is just like Rin, _she thought sadly. _Only, Rin is willing to keep going. Rin . . . does not want her to die! _She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, and found that tears were leaking out. These were different, however, than the ones she was used to. Usually they were cold as they tracked down her cheek. These were hot, so hot they nearly burned her skin. She opened her eyes again, her vision blurry, to plead for the woman to keep her life, to give her hope.

"It's . . . nice to know that someone will remember me . . . and not just from what I've done."

Rin tried to clear her vision again. The Loneliness raised a shaky hand and took one of the feathers from her hair. She held it out to the girl.

"I . . . want you to . . . have this."

She closed her fingers around the feather, and then placed the two other hands so that Rin's were on top of hers. The woman took one last shuddering breath before a soft light seemed to surround her, then her body turned to dust. The kimono she was wearing fluttered a moment before settling back down onto the bed.

Rin blinked.

The Loneliness was dead.

She opened her hand with wide eyes to find that the feather she was holding was glowing with the same light that the Loneliness was. She realized that everything around her was too quite; the atmosphere solemn and morbid. She didn't even realize that someone was behind her until she was picked up bridal style. It was barely registered, however, the shock of what had just accord was almost too much for her handle – sure, she had been beaten within an inch of her life countless times, but she was still here. The Loneliness was _gone_. And it was all her fault. She hadn't been able to save her. She had failed.

Rin's tears turned cold.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

She was used to being numb.

But not like this.

It was two days after the Loneliness's death, and Rin still hadn't recovered from the shock. The numbness used to have been an escape from the hurt of her injuries. Now it was as if the blank feeling _was _the hurt. The fault of failure had overtaken her mind, so she made herself void of thoughts so it wouldn't hurt as much. Death was so much worse than a few broken bones, she realized now. She had so often wished for the blackness to take her away when she was back at the house, but her views since then had changed drastically. And she realized that it was because of Sesshomaru-sama, because of the hope that he had given her, that this happened. This just reminded her that it was _her _to blame for not giving what the Loneliness had desperately needed.

She was in her bed, which she hadn't left since the nurse put her there. She hadn't eaten, either, but she barely even felt the slight hunger pains. Her Helpers were worried about her, she could tell that much, at least. But, anyone would, when a patient suddenly stopped eating. Still she stared listlessly at the ceiling, not even bothering to get up to go to the playroom. She briefly pondered if Kaito-sensei would wonder where she was, but that answer was a given. Of _course _she would at least wonder, for Rin had been in that room every day without fail until today.

As if on cue, she heard her teacher's footsteps coming towards her room. She mused what the woman would do when she found her like this. What would she say? Would she simply give words of encouragement, or see that she's okay and go back to the playroom? Well, she was about to find out.

"Rin-chan? What are you still doing in bed? It's already four in the afternoon!" She could not, for all she was worth, figure out why the girl was still in bed. Knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer, at least verbally, she walked over to her bedside and laid a pad of paper and a pencil next to the girl's hand.

At least honoring her with a response since she knew that keeping silent would be very rude, Rin wrote on the paper. She didn't know how to write a lot of words, nor the correct grammar except for a few simple phrases, but she had already memorized the all of the kanji characters, so all she needed to do was to sound them out and she could write it down. Slowly, with careful strokes of practiced lines, she put down what she could:

"_A woman. She died. Rin not save her."_

Kaito-sensei studied the characters for a moment before she politely excused herself. She stood up to go talk with one of the nurses outside her bedroom. The girl knew that her teacher was asking about what just had happened to make Rin even quieter than before. After she was done getting the information, she came back to sit with the child. She was silent for a moment before speaking.

"I will probably never know exactly what you two talked about, but . . . what you said about not being able to save her, I don't think that's entirely true."

Rin looked up at her in interest. What was she saying? That . . . the Loneliness was actually _saved_? But that couldn't be true, could it? She didn't want to live anymore, and the girl hadn't changed that. So what could Kaito-sensei mean?

Seeing the child's confusion clearly on her face, she continued. "What I'm trying to say, is that you might not of have saved her body, but you saved her soul. Now, I don't know what you two talked about, but I have a small understanding. You see, there is something that only a youkai can do, they can put their soul into an object. From nurse-san's description, a light surrounded her, right?"

Rin nodded eagerly, beginning to find some kind of hope in this after all.

"Do you still have the object?"

The girl opened her palm and showed her the feather. It was odd, she found, but even though that she hasn't let go of it since she was given it, it hadn't gotten warm and the bristles hadn't clumped together like it should've. Yet again, it wasn't an ordinary feather, now was it?

"And you've been holding onto this since then,"—Rin nodded to confirm it—"so you see, if the youkai's soul was evil, a human couldn't even touch this and it would have to be exorcised by someone with spiritual power. But if the youkai's soul was evil, yet it was saved at the end . . . Rin-chan, the woman's name was Sougami Kagura. I want you to know that she . . . wasn't the nicest of people. This feather," she held it up for emphasis, "should be giving off an evil youkai aura that would be burning me. But, as you can see, nothing's happening."

_So that means that the Loneli—Kagura-san _was _saved! _Rin gently took back the feather and stared at it in wonder. She really _did _help her. She pulled the feather to her heart and smiled back up at Kaito-sensei. She returned it.

"Come on, let's get you back to the playroom."

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

_(A/N: WOOOOOOTT!! FINALLY DONE!! And I warned you that the ending sucked!! XP_

_Responses:_

Obradyroxmysox: _I'm sowwy . . .it'll get better, I promise! Though I can't promise you Sessi will come back . . ._

Neomeneomine: _Thank you so much!! And yes more chapters . . . I'm finding that writing them down isn't as easy as it seems . . . *Sigh*_

New Fan: _Thank you thank you thank you thank you!! Such kind words for an authoress who is slacking on updating!! So sorry!! Oh, and your guess is right . . . there is so much to write about that! I'm not even sure I'll be able to it all, but I'm sure as hell gonna try!!_

Pio: _Love your name by the way . . . it's so fun to say! Anyway, sowwy!! I didn't mean to make you cry!! _D:

Anhimals: _Angst just fits her, I guess. *Shrug* Thank you!! Frankly, neither can I!! XD and it's a little too late for that . . . but hopefully now it will stay away! Grr . . . stupid writer's block._

Just me: _Wow, such high praise!! Thank you soooo much!! And don't worry, I won't abandon it, and no matter how long it takes me to update, I WILL __**NOT **__abandon this story!!_

Locainlove: _Gah. Long review. Though, before I say anything, just know that I WILL review YOUR story, and explain why it took so long. I swear I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth!! I know what you mean. I hate it when people make them suddenly recover from life threatening wounds/trauma miraculously within a week. Blech. Trust me, I won't do that here. THANK YOU FOR THEE IDEA-ER!! Seriously. I can't help it if she was mean! And a head's up, the Magic Fluff Man won't be appearing for a while . . . if at all. :]_

_InuYasha, you ain't gonna come in for a LOOOOOONNNNNG time!_

_Inu: But I'm the title character!!_

_PAP: Not in this story you ain't!_

_Sess: and me? when am I going to reappear?_

_PAP: Uhh . . . that is classified information!_

_Inu: Meaning she doesn't know._

_PAP: Shut up!_

_LIL: You two should be grateful. SHE was the one who ordered the bathroom for you two._

_Inu: I will not thank this wench!_

_Naraku: I'll be making a regular appearance *smirks*_

_PAP: THAT'S CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!! That's it, you are banned from the closet!! *Shoves him out*_

_Inu/Sess/LIL: _O_o;

_PAP: Hey . . . I've always wondered . . . does he even HAVE a mother??_

_Inu/Sess: *Look at each other*_

_LIL: uh . . . demons?_

_PAP: Hm. *Holds head* never mind. I don't wanna think about it. Stupid images . . ._

_Inu: I bet he takes after her because he's so girly. *Snickers*_

_PAP: Whatever. Grah, if this goes on, I'll never be done! *Plays Candy Shop*_

_Inu/Sess/Mir and Kou who just suddenly popped in (the music calls to them): *Dance*_

_PAP: Well, if you're too sexy for my story, then I am too pwn-er-ific for yours! XP_

Cant break the habit: _Thank yew!! Well, not parents, technically, since Rin is human. No, keep guessing! One of three things can happen: you're right, wrong, or wrong and give me a new idea so technically you'd be right._

Moonlightshadow1: _I will!! I promise!!)_


	5. Home

_(A/N: Wow. Okay. Sooo....it's been a while. Yeah. Sorry about that. I'm finding that it's REEEAAALLLLYYY hard to not fast-forward through this story. I really want to get to the point when _(SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER). _It also doesn't help that I've been really distracted lately. First by manga, then by my birthday on the sixth, and then by the new tablet I got complete with photoshop 6.0 and Corel Painter Essentials 4, two really cool art programs. And, wait it gets better, I wrote this, and found that this chapter really sucks! So, to be honest, this has been done for almost a week, but I've been doing some major editing on it. And, it's still pretty inadequate. Go me._

_**INPORTANT NOTE!!!! **__This time, the line breaks are time skips, as you may have already noticed, but please know that the time between them gets longer at every break.)_

**The Light In The Darkness**

Home

It was ordinary.

Rin was being wheeled around the hospital, on the way to the playroom. She was studying her surroundings—really, it never was uninteresting. Some would think that people never changed, that every day they did the same thing every day. That wasn't true. One day their smile could be brighter than the last, or more irritated, or bitterer. She was intrigued about the slight differences in their mood changes, and was always eager to study.

The hospital was a little busier than usual, she noticed. A couple of people were on their phone, some were reading magazines, others trying to calm their children, or just sitting around in one of the chairs waiting for something or someone. A flash of movement caught her eye, and Rin turned her head towards it just in time to see a woman flick her hand by her ear, as if trying to hit a fly offhandedly, maybe. Something slipped off her finger and shined in the light before landing with a soft clatter. It then rolled underneath a chair.

She looked back at the woman; she didn't seem to have noticed that whatever it was is missing. She was one of the people reading a magazine, but her attention wasn't on it. She rested her cheek on her hand left hand, skipping through the pages aimlessly, her dark brown eyes unfocused and anxious. She shifted her head to her other, and she stared at her hand her cheek was just resting on for a moment before realizing that it was missing. She quickly started looking for it, growing increasingly frantic by the second.

Rin glanced at the nurse, and to her convenience found that she was being distracted by another woman with a crying child. So, she simply took her chance and limped awkwardly to the chair where whatever it was had landed underneath. It was quite a difficult thing to accomplish, first kneeling down and then reaching with her short arms to get it, making her practically have to crawl underneath the chair, but she somehow managed. The object turned out to be a small ring, a shiny deep gold with a jewel on it. A small dust bunny had attached itself to the ring, but with one puff of air it blew away.

By the time she limped over to the woman, she was nearing hysterics. Rin lightly pulled on the hem of the woman's dress as her back was turned towards her. The woman spun around.

"Wha—?!" she started, before Rin held up the ring to her. She gently took her lost object and kneeled down to the child's level.

"My . . . my ring! How . . . ?!" she asked in astonishment. Rin smiled up at her. She blinked, bewildered, before she smiled back earnestly.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" she said, relief rushing through her. Rin's grin widened, she was truly happy that this woman could relax and be glad herself. The woman gave her thanks again before suddenly throwing her arms around the child.

Rin froze instantly.

_Wha—What __**is**__ this?! What is she doing?!_ Rin thought frantically. No one other than Sesshoumaru-sama had ever been this close to her, not even Kaito-sensei. That, and not knowing what she was doing, caused her to start shaking and her eyes become glossy.

The woman, feeling the child stiffen, pulled away and looked at her. She was shocked. To find that the child's eyes had filled with tears and painful emotions, she was taken back. Though most of all, the girl seemed to be utterly confused. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"My dear child . . . haven't you ever been hugged before?"

Rin blinked rapidly at the woman, trying to null the fear and make her mind comprehend what the woman said. _A . . . hug . . . ? What __**is**__ that?!_ _What—what was going __**on**__?!_ she thought, still panicked, still not understanding her words.

The woman saw that her confused expression didn't change, she elaborated. "A hug is when you put your arms around someone or something, usually to show that you care about someone, or you're . . . well, in this case, thanking someone."

The child finally got was she was saying, and nodded briskly. _That's why she got so close; she was just trying to thank Rin._ She would wipe away her tears, but they would instantly be replaced by new ones. She smiled apologetically through them, though it was becoming fruitless to dry her eyes. The tears just wouldn't stop. She couldn't understand this sudden feeling of loneliness that washed over her. It was just a hug, what was there to be said about? The woman was just showing her thanks, why was she still crying? Why couldn't she stop?

She looked up when the woman pulled her hands away from her face. Very lightly, very gently, she began to brush them away. Rin felt so happy . . . just because someone who she's never going those again is drying her tears? She was suddenly so sad, and she didn't really know why. Was it that knowing that this woman would be forever without a name, doomed to just be another face among the other millions, bothered her that much? Maybe.

It ended much sooner than Rin wanted; for the nurse discovered that her patient had escaped and come to look for the child. She was placed back into the wheelchair and was taken away, and although she tried to take one last look at the woman, it was too late.

She had already disappeared onto the crowd.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

She was lonely.

And she couldn't figure out why.

It was exactly four days after she met that woman, and still that face won't leave her alone. She was still sad, in fact, that feeling of abandonment had yet to leave her. Even so, she wouldn't let it show. She didn't want people worrying over her when she was perfectly fine. Just being a little sad isn't worth fretting over. Everyone here had already done such a great deal for her . . . anything more would just be too much.

So, she went about those four days, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. And she didn't expect anything to. It was on that fourth day, however, that the normalcy was disrupted.

It was nearing the evening, dusk was just settling down in the sky. Sitting on her bed, she was glued to the television. Although not all of her attention was robbed by the glowing electrical device; a part of it was always directed towards the door, the sounds of footsteps behind it. The many different sounds were no longer a bother to her, she was used to it. However, she was slightly surprised when those footsteps stopped at her door.

She was extremely stunned when that woman – the one from a few days prier – entered the room shyly. Behind her was a man—no, a demon. He was very tall, at least a head taller than the woman. He had long, olive-green hair that went down just above his knees. He had red markings too; one was going in a line from his hairline straight down to in between his eyebrows, and two that mirrored each other on each of his cheeks, starting at his jaw line and ending just before his nose.

Rin was tremendously confused as to why they were here, but was also . . . happy? What _was_ she doing here? Why did she come? Who was the man?

It wasn't like she was scared; merely curious. The only other time she had visitors was when Sesshoumaru-sama came with this parents. They came in slowly, anxiously, nervously. The child felt slightly pressured, so she did the only thing she knew that would help. She smiled.

They were slightly startled, probably expecting her to be very shy, and to be truthful, she still was. They shared a look, and then the woman came forward and sat down next to her on the bed. Rin glanced behind her at the demon, and she noticed that he was slightly irritated about something. Looking around, she realized that it must be the television. She flicked it off with the remote, and turned back at him. He gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything. The woman started to speak.

"Hi, I'm Aoyama Tsukiyomi, and this is my husband, Houshiyomi. We met the other day, remember?"

Rin nodded eagerly. How could she forget?

Tsukiyomi-san shared another look with her husband. She was still very nervous, she could tell, and she toyed with the hem of her skirt.

"Well, this may sound funny, but I decided that I'd like to spend more time with you. Would you like that?"

Rin could hardly believe her ears. She was so happy! She couldn't believe that Tsukiyomi-san wanted to spend time with her! Of _course _she'd like that! She smiled again and nodded her head.

The woman let out a nervous little laugh, dispelling the rest of the tension in the room. "That's good, really good."

"Well, Rin," Houshiyomi finally spoke. His expression was firm, but his eyes were smiling. "I'm glad that we can get to know each other.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

"So Rin-chan, when do you get your casts off?"

She tilted her head to the side, confused at what Houshiyomi-san just said. Tsukiyomi-san, who was sitting to the left of her husband, chuckled at Rin's expression.

"Yes, silly, these things,"—she knocked on her leg cast for extra measure—"do eventually come off."

"Although that does answer whether or not she knew when," Houshiyomi-san added. "I'll go ask a nurse."

He got up to go ask, while Tsukiyomi-san continued playing checkers with the girl. Rin was a naturally fast learner, and she caught onto the game fairly quickly. The couple was impressed with that fact; making Rin very happy. What would happen is that the woman would make a move, and the child would sit and decide what move to make for a long time before finally choosing one, one that would actually work out very well in her favor. This is making her into a formidable opponent, Tsukiyomi-san was finding out.

"Well, the nurse said that she has about a week and a half left," Houshiyomi-san said, sitting back down where he was sitting back before, which was just on Rin's hospital bed. His wife turned to him, surprised.

"Really?! So soon?"

Her husband nodded. "Yeah, I guess by that time we'll get to go out with Rin, too."

The aforementioned child perked up from studying the board game. Go out? Go out where? She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She had only been outside once; on her way from that house with Sesshoumaru-sama. She couldn't really remember what happened before that, it was like it was just a giant blur. Even when he was carrying her, that was as if someone had tried to wipe away the image but only managed to smear it. In fact, the only thing that was clear to her was that first image of him, when he broke open her door. That with sound of his voice, the feeling of when he touched her head, those were also still with her. Everything else; however . . . they were distorted visions, at best.

But sometimes hazy images can be the scariest.

"Yes, we'll go out," Tsukiyomi-san said, bringing Rin out of her thoughts before she was too absorbed in them. "Like, go to eat, or see a movie."

Rin was completely lost.

"Eh . . ." the woman started, looking slightly frazzled.

"You don't know what that means, do you?" her husband asked.

Rin shook her head.

"We have a lot of work to do," Tsukiyomi-san sighed.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

It was here.

The day finally came, the day where she would finally get her casts off. She was bubbling with excitement, though she was also very nervous. It helped that Tsukiyomi-san and Houshiyomi-san came with her. They had already explained to her exactly what the process for removing a cast was, though they – meaning mostly Tsukiyomi-san – still looked at her with worried anxiety about how she would react to it.

The nurse who was there explained just as the couple did; the saw would be loud, but it would only cut through the cast and not her skin. She blinked at the noise when she turned it on, and started with her left leg. Slowly she made her way down, and when she finally extracted the child's leg, the limb was very pink and numb.

Then the nurse moved on to the next leg, and finally her arm. All hurt when they came out, really achy and sore. They then moved her from the bed she was laying on to a bathtub where they gently washed the unused limbs.

Even though the casts were off, she still couldn't walk on her own. She may have been able to limp awkwardly with something supporting her legs, but now she would surely collapse if she even tried to put any weight on them.

In fact, Rin could do little more than move her head. She couldn't even lift her arms, and most she was able to do was bend her achy fingers a little. She pouted, disappointed. Wasn't it supposed to be that after she got her casts off she would be able to walk around and never have to ride in a wheelchair again?

She heard Tsukiyomi-san chuckle. "It'll take a little while for you to gain the strength back into your legs, so until then, you're stuck in the chair, kiddo."

She grinned. How could she be sad if Tsukiyomi-san was in such high spirits? In fact, she seemed to be just plain giddy.

Houshiyomi-san was outside waiting for them. His eyes widened, amazed, for a moment. "I didn't realize just how tiny you were, Rin. You sure look different with all those casts off."

His wife nodded in agreement and smiled. "Uhuh! Now we can finally take her home!"

Rin blinked.

_Home . . . ?_

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

_I know. Bad. But, you should've seen it before. I did you all a favor by keeping it longer for editing purposes. From now on, the space between the breaks are going to only contain the most important moments in Rin's life. It won't go day by day. The story would be over fifty chapters if I did that. So, anyway, the next chapter will be out soon. I hope._

_Responses:_

Obradyroxmysox: _If only this chapter was as good. I so dearly apologize for this inadequate beast of a chapter! Next time will be better!_

New Fan: _This chapter is just a big pile a poo, sorry!!! And, well, you are partly right . . . they will have to get older first . . ._

Shadowmaiden3: _Uh . . . found it again? *Is slightly confused* But thanks for the fav! Thank you so much!! And . . . to be honest, I don't know. I guess I have about three. One which I am about eighty percent of the time, it's my Lazy-Go-Lucky one. I am very lazy, a procrastinator, over all a very mellow person. The second one is my Emoness side, about fifteen percent. Basically it's the artsy side of me. I enter this state when writing a story, usually, that's why everything turns out dark. _;. And then there's my Demon side. Whenever I get super pissed off, I find that not even my friends will come near me. Scary, huh?_

Locainlove: _I already dealt with your reply, and frankly, I just don't feel that spontaneous as to write another slightly random reply. Although I did take your advice with the shorter paragraphs. I send my love, and my hate I will direct to that flame you got!_

OvelordKakashi: _Alright, one question. If you hate all stories based on an anime, then why are you reading fanfiction? Though I'm very flattered with your compliments, it really doesn't make much sense to me. About the conversation part, were you talking about the one at the end of the chapter or the one in the review reply? Because if it's the latter I know that person and we always communicate like that. Although if you're talking about the one from the story . . . well, I didn't think that it was __**that**__ weird. *scratches head*_


	6. Family

_(A/N: Hi all! I updated! Woot! I really started this on Monday, -- I think – and if I hadn't gotten plunged with a bunch of homework ON TOP of a week's worth of make-up work – seriously, I was out all week two weeks ago because I had the flu – I would've had this done by like Wednesday. Stupid teachers . . ._

_Anyways, I'm sure you wouldn't like to hear my complaints about fevers, coughs, headaches, and the sniffles, so I'll just let you get on with your life and read the chapter. _:D_)_

**The Light in the Darkness**

Family

"Alright, up we go!"

Rin was lifted – with probably minimal effort – by Houshiyomi-san onto his hip, since she still wasn't strong enough to walk on her own. Well, if the child were to be completely accurate, she'd say 'Outo-san'. It sounded funny to her, though not in a bad way, she just . . . wasn't used to it yet. In fact, it really seemed to fit the demon, in the same way Okaa-san fit Tsukiyomi-san.

She felt like giggling! The simple concept of calling them mother and father made her feel incredibly giddy, though the whole reason was unknown. A huge part of it, after they explained everything to her, was that now she actually _had_ a mother and father, the latter currently carrying her to their 'car'.

'Car' was special because Sesshoumaru-sama taught her that.

It was also weird just how _warm _Hou—er, Outo-san (this was definitely going to take some getting used to) was. Really, Tsu—Okaa-san's warmth was so much colder in comparison. Maybe it was just demons who were really warm. Then again, she didn't remember the demon nurses at the hospital being this warm.

Maybe it was just her Outo-san's gift.

She felt like giggling again, she was so giddy.

Besides containing her laughter, she was also craning her neck in all directions, the parking lot of the hospital being extremely interesting. After all that time in the hospital, the change of scenery was nice. There was so much to see! And so many cars! Seriously, not one of them was the same! Was there this many cars when she was being carried to the hospital by Sesshoumaru-sama? Ugh, she couldn't remember. Everything was so fuzzy. She assumed so. It was only common sense, right? She could see the road from where she was, and there were countless cars coming from both sides. Yep, definitely more cars.

The group finally reached their destination. Rin counted four doors; two on each side. It was a sleek, shiny black, and it was smaller of the cars she had seen. Hou—Outo-san opened one of them and she could see that there were two sets of seats inside, covered with leather. On one of the seats was yet another seat, smaller with another set of buckles. Outo-san set her down on the plush material.

"It's a car seat, for small children. It keeps you safer than just the regular seat."

Safer from what? Was Rin's immediate question, but she didn't ask. If he wasn't going to tell her, then he must not want her to know.

Once she was buckled in, Outo-san went to the front, and Okaa-san did the same. He started the car, and it felt weird to have it moving underneath her. She could hear whatever was making that humming noise. As they rolled out of the lot, she pressed her face up against the window and strained her eyes, trying to catch every detail of the buildings flying by her. It was certainly an experience, feeling like she was moving and at the same time feeling like she was sitting still.

What was it like to the people who passed her and Sesshoumaru-sama? Did they stare at the demon and human, or did they pass right on by, too engrossed in driving to see? She realized that to just about everyone on the streets, she was insignificant to them, their daily lives. How would people feel, if they acknowledged that? That their existence wasn't needed for her to go on? How would they react if someone told them that? How would she? She pondered that question, did she even know? Could she? It was just a fact of life. Or, at least, the life she knew.

The buildings started to change. Once tall and packed close together were now slowly spreading out and becoming shorter and fatter. Also, she began to see the grass and trees more often. Where were they going? They had said 'home', but what did that mean, really? She didn't know. Well, how could she? She knew that it meant someplace where people lived. What did that mean to her, though? The only 'home' she had ever known was . . . was . . . well, something she'd rather not think about.

She couldn't even remember it. All she could recall clearly was the never ending hurt; the pounding throughout her body, never ceasing, never letting up for even a moment. The Pain . . . she remembered him, too, the shadow of a body, shielding her from her escape, from the Light.

Was some other girl now in her position? Going through that horrible, never-ending nightmare? Would she know the wonders of the world of the Light, forever yearning to be away from the Darkness? Or would she be like Rin, only knowing the comforts of being coated in blackness, and instead fearing what was outside? Would she have someone like Sesshoumaru-sama to save her, or would she be locked up in that numbing hurt, the weight of everything pressing down on her, suffocating and eventually killing her, for eternity? Would she be forever lost in the Darkness, like Rin was?

The child felt a shiver run down her spine.

She didn't want to think of that. But, would that be selfish? To cast whoever it was or _could _be to the back of her mind, to tell her that she was insignificant to her life? That she wasn't needed?

_No._

There was no way that she could do that. The feeling of it be utterly wrong shot through her entire body, as if her instincts itself was rejecting the notion of abandoning someone like that. Sesshoumaru-sama . . . just by the gesture of reaching out for her . . . saving her . . . that was enough for her to cement the idea of never abandoning another.

She also wrong when she thought that the people on the street, every face she did not know, they _were _significant. What if they knew Okaa-san or Outo-san? If they were sad, wouldn't that make her parents sad as well? Wouldn't their feelings pass onto others, whether they wanted it to or not? The feelings of others' sadness . . . their regret . . . their hurt . . . their anger . . . and also their happiness . . . they pass it on the people they are around. Coincidental, accidental, and no way to control it. If one's friend, brother, sister, parent was feeling down, the recipient of their bad mood feels it and subconsciously acts accordingly by lowering their mood.

It wasn't that this was a bad thing, no, it was the complete opposite. This showed people's compassion toward others. If there was no kindness in the world, only cruelty and pain, what would be left?

_Nothing but absolute suffering._

"Alright Rin-chan, we're here!"

Rin jumped, having gotten so lost in her thoughts that she had forgotten that she wasn't alone. She smiled at her mother, pushing those thoughts from the forefront of her mind. Not to be forgotten, just so that Rin's slightly down mood wouldn't be caught by her parents. They were positively ecstatic right now . . . no, she would not hurt their happiness. It was easy to let their good mood rub off on her.

Outo-san once again came to undo the straps and lifted her back onto his hip. Once Rin had been placed securely, she was able to get a full view of her surroundings. They had stopped in front of a smaller two story house; caramel coloring, brick red roof, a tiny garden in front. They only had a little space between their neighbors, but it was actually quite peaceful out.

The trio walked up to the door. They looked at her expectantly, both with an excited gleam in their eyes. Okaa-san put the key in the door and then opened it wide.

"Welcome home, Rin-chan."

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

"Are you comfortable, Rin-chan?"

She nodded enthusiastically. Dressed in a white nightgown that was half covered in small floral print, Rin thought that she was going to get used to living here. She had already been shown around the house, and she couldn't find anything that she didn't like. There was a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a dining room on the bottom floor, and on the second floor there were three bedrooms and another bathroom.

One of the bedrooms was for her, it was explained, although she wasn't allowed to see it, because it wasn't finished. She also asked what the third room was for, but they only answered her question with a knowing smile and said that they'll tell her later.

So now she found herself cuddled in between Okaa-san and Outo-san, and under some blankets. This, she had to admit, was the safest and warmest she had ever felt. Was this 'home'? She couldn't imagine anything otherwise. What _could _be better? Nothing, according to her. So, she smiled as her answer for Okaa-san's question, and snuggled down further.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Rin stared at the plump man in wonder. He had dark brown eyes, thinning black hair, and a funny little mustache. He was currently kneeling across a small table from her. They were in his office, he was a therapist, as her parents told her. He was going to help her talk, they said. Would he? Well, as long as her parents wanted her to, she would. Simple as that.

"Well, Rin-kun, it's very nice to meet you. My name is Jiyou Kakuro. Your parents told me that you have a very interesting past, is that correct?"

The child nodded slowly, slightly unsure about his wording. Interesting? Now that she had time to study him, she found that he _was_ curious about . . . her, she presumed. The way he leaned towards her, his eyes focusing on hers, the folding of his hands in his lap to keep from fidgeting, giving her his full attention. That is what she would want, right? It would have been worse if he wasn't.

He pursed his lips, deciding something. "Alright, how about we start with something simple for today? Rin-kun, would you like to draw something?"

She tilted her head a little to the side, and his lips twitched upward at her slightly confused expression. He reached behind him to get a stack of paper, some crayons, some colored pencils, and some regular pencils. He set them in front of her. She picked up a pencil and carefully drew out some characters.

'_What should I draw?'_ she wrote, then looked at him expectantly.

"Draw whatever makes you happy."

She didn't have to think long. She sketched out Okaa-san and Outo-san. When she was done, however, she frowned. The proportions were all off, in fact, one could barely tell it was them. She flipped the paper over next to the pile to start over. The second drawing wasn't much better. _The next sheet, then. Rin will get this right._

It continued again and again; she just couldn't get it right! It was starting to irk her, and the more it did, the faster she sketched. No longer was she marking everything with one straight line, but now she was using multiple strokes to make one of them, the art looking more and more like a sketch as she went on. Alas, however, the pile of paper was not everlasting.

She blinked, surprised, when she turned the paper over, only to find the wood of the table. She looked up at Kakuro-san, not sure what to do. He had been watching her, his hands clasped under his chin. He was astonished.

"I must say, I am impressed, Rin-kun!" He took the neat pile of papers and began to shuffle through them. "Remarkable, truly remarkable," he mumbled under his breath.

What was so great about them? She didn't understand. She had seen others' artwork, and hers wasn't nearly as good. What was remarkable about it? It wasn't. _She_ wasn't. So why was he so impressed? She couldn't figure it out.

The meeting continued for a short while more, before he looked up at the clock and gave a little sigh. Was he disappointed at the time? Why? She didn't have to wait long for his answer before he got up and went to the door. He beckoned someone inside, and in came her parents.

Was he disappointed that she was leaving? That was the only explanation, but she didn't quite understand why he was feeling like that. Maybe . . . maybe they were people who, after just one meeting, make an impact on someone's life. That's how it was with Sesshoumaru-sama.

But . . .

Was she worth enough to be so? She couldn't help but doubt her strength. She wasn't strong. She wasn't capable of making such a difference. Even to one person. Yet, if that were entirely fact, then why would Okaa-san and Outo-san – currently fawning over her pictures – choose her? There must be other people more deserving of her good luck. The other little girl that might be in her place right now, for example. She must be more in need of this kindness than Rin. She stared up at the trio of adults in front of her, who kept glancing at her. They were happy that Rin was here, so she would not take that happiness away from them. If they wanted her to be here, then she wouldn't leave. Even if the reason of their want was unclear. Sitting there, Rin made a promise.

If she ever became a burden or was no longer wanted, she would leave.

Simple as that.

"Kiddo, you just love to keep surprising us, don't you?" Outo-san said, coming over to ruffle her hair a little. The child smiled earnestly as he picked her back up.

"Yes, very amazing." It was Kakuro-san this time. "In all my years of experience, I have never seen a child with a faster learning rate. Really, there should be no problem with starting to teach her what is needed for school." He was getting excited, his mustache bobbing up and down as he started to talk faster. "A late starter, maybe, but with the capabilities of Rin-kun, I doubt she'll catch up and move ahead of the other kids in no time."

Okaa-san stared at him, amazed. "After only one session, you can tell all that?"

The therapist nodded. "Oh yes. With the drawings alone, she went from about how a three year old would draw to how . . . oh, I'd say someone near ten or eleven would draw. And she did that with only this stack of paper."

"So, you're saying that we should start preparing her for school already?" Outo-san asked, a little doubtful. "But she doesn't talk yet."

"It's never too early to start her learning process. Her voice will come, though how long that will take, I can't tell you a proper answer. It might take days . . . it might take years. And you have to consider that this is only the first meeting. I'd like to get to know her better, to know what she's thinking."

Otou-san looked at the girl in his arms. "Would you like to come back, Rin?"

She nodded. Kakuro-san wanted her to come back, so why not? Besides, this man was very friendly and seemed honest to her. He was genuinely interested in her; he was not lying when he said that he wanted to get to know her better.

"Then I suppose another session can be arranged," Okaa-san said. Kakuro-san smiled, his eyes twinkling.

"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! Now, all the details will be discussed later, but for now, I'd like to leave you with some advice. When at home, treat her the same as you would treat any other child. Gradually introduce her into her environment, don't try to overload her with new things because that'll put too much stress on her. Although, I really would start to teach her things she'll need for school. It will help prepare the future.

"And, since we don't know how long it will take to find her voice, as you're teaching her kanji, also teach her sign language. It will help communicating easier, though it'll only work if you learn it with her. Spend as much time together as you can, and encourage her to ask many questions."

Okaa-san was nodding at everything he said, eagerly soaking in the knowledge. Rin knew that she couldn't wait to start, and couldn't stop the smile from growing on her lips. Her mother was excited _because_ she was Rin's mother. Was it possible to be any happier? The child didn't know.

The family of three turned to leave, and Kakuro-san followed them to the door.

"One more thing. Whether this is off the record or not, though she does not know a many things, this doesn't mean that she's stupid."

They all turned to look at the therapist, having caught their full attention, though he was looking at the girl. He shook his head, as if dismissing the thought all together.

"No. In fact, I'd say she understands much more than we might think."

**..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..: :..: :/\/\: :..**

_(A/N: Welp, whaddya think? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Want to throw up because it's so awful? Well, don't upchuck your stomach contents onto your computer, I've heard that it doesn't do so well for hard drives._

_Instead, type that into a review. Simply say: SHNAPHAPPLE!! IT'S A SMORGASBORG OF SNICKERDOODLES!! And I'll know what you mean. And cry. But that's not important._

_. . . _xD;

_Replies:_

Ascaisil: o////o; _Jeez, I feel bad for receiving such compliments. And I didn't mean to make you cry! Sorry! *rubs back of head* I really didn't think I was that funny . . . but okay! I love friends!! Talk to me anytime, whether it is in a review or a PM!!_

Inulover88: _I like to keep my readers on their toes. Wouldn't want an old, generic story, would you? _;D

Locainlove: _Eh, don't worry. I took a long time to update. *rubs back of head*_

_Well, you would've been right. And I thought the same thing! And demon/human relationships . . . I completely understand. Could they be ANY cuter?! Seriously._

_Sess: If it's so cute then WHY am I not in it?! It takes two to tango!_

_PAP: Well, not really. But okay. BESIDES! The dust bunnies I can live with, but it's the vacuum cleaners that are evil!! Hannah Montana will use them to brainwash little children into buying her music!!_

_Inu: . . . Are you on drugs?_

_LIL: If she was, then she'd DEFINITELY share. And so far, I ain't getting any. So no._

_Inu: You both are on crack. There isn't any other explanation!_

_PAP: Nope! Just powdered donuts!_

_LIL: Oh yes, the donuts of the powered! We need some!_

_PAP: *chuckles evilly*_

_Inu: *cowers in corner* I'm scared of the parodies . . ._

_PAP: Eh, I don't feel like one today, so you're safe._

_Inu: Yes!_

_PAP: For now._

_Inu: No!_

_Sess: You idiot! Don't show your pain! She's more sadistic than me!_

_PAP: YOU'RE the one who should be afraid! Those are just parodies, but if you say no to Rin, you'll end up being dead in one story, and AWOL – what does that even mean?! – in another! Do you know how EASILY I could turn this into a Rin/Kohaku fic?!_

_Sess: You wouldn't dare._

_LIL: Oh, she would. You better watch yourself, mister!_

_Sess: *glares*_

_PAP: Just ask Rin to dress up as an assassin. Then I bet you won't let her leave the bedroom, am I right? *winks*_

_Sess: *tries to stay angry, but fantasies of Rin cause him to fail – miserably, I might add – and starts to drool again.*_

_PAP: JUST USE PROTECTION, YA MORON!!  
_

_Sess: *doesn't seem to hear*_

_Inu: Aw, dammit! His spit is getting all over the floor!_

_LIL: Eww . . ._

_PAP: . . . Why is it green? Did he eat green pancakes?_

_LIL: Maybe green eggs and ham?_

_Inu: Will you two at least TRY to make sense?!_

_LIL: We are!! Those are perfectly logical answers! They're both green!_

_Inu: What; infected meat and moldy pancakes?!_

_LIL: It's from a children's' book, moron!_

_PAP: They're not moldy, they just used food coloring!_

_Inu: . . . You both belong in strait jackets._

_PAP: Ya know . . . when I was practicing for softball, and a ball went sailing ten feet over my head, so I was like, 'I need pretty butterfly wings to catch that!' and I thought of you!_

_Inu: . . . . . . . . . Thanks?? Random fools . . . . . . . . ._

_PAP: And I decided that his wings should grow back. They are just too pretty to waste._

_LIL: Eh, yeah. So true. So shiny._

_PAP: So, Lily, if we're gonna go to Antarctica, we're gonna need lots of heat, wool, jackets, sweatshirts, socks, umbrellas, a rake, bubbles, cakes, chocolate, Cheez-its, the Internet, manga, an unlimited supply of rainbow pancakes, powdered donuts, and a snail._

_LIL: *nods* Uhuh, I totally agree._

_Inu: . . . . ?!_

_PAP: We should go soon – hold on, why are my feet wet? *looks down*_

_LIL: Huh? Mine are too – wait, that's Sesshoumaru's drool!_

_PAP: Sick!_

_LIL: Disgusting!_

_Inu: Why does it smell like ham?!?!_

_LIL: *points to him* HAH!!_

_PAP: Uh . . . actually, we need to go shopping NOW. *pulls Lily out of the closet* InuYasha! I'm leaving you to clean it up!_

_Inu: You've got to be kidding me! Get back here!_

_. . ._

_Ew. *shudders*_


End file.
